


the drink

by bilexualclarke (ohalaskayoung)



Series: home is the feeling of your hand in mine [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Bellamy and Clarke have a nice long talk, F/M, basically just feelings, basically what I think happened immediately following the finale, mentions of Clexa, season 4 speculation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-20
Updated: 2016-05-20
Packaged: 2018-06-09 15:46:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6913309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohalaskayoung/pseuds/bilexualclarke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I expected you to put up a fight about me going in,” Clarke says quietly. “I-I was petrified, Bellamy. I was so scared. If I failed, we all would have died.”</p><p>“You told me that you trusted me with your life, Clarke,” Bellamy says, “and it goes both ways. I trust you with my life, too.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	the drink

“Because we didn’t.”

 

Bellamy’s heart sinks. _Just one goddamn minute of peace, that’s all we need._

He had plans for what he was going to say to her when she came back, but the words dry up in his throat when Octavia slides her blade through Pike’s heart and storms out of the throne room, glaring at him as she goes.

 

“ _O_ ,” he whispers brokenly as she leaves. Clarke finds his hand again and squeezes.

 

“Hey, it’s not like she can go far,” she murmurs. “You guys blew all the exits.”

 

“She’s Octavia. She’ll find a way out.”

 

(Clarke is right. Bryan and Miller find her a few hours later, curled up in a pile of debris in the hallway, shaking as she sobs. The battle is over, and it is time to mourn those they have lost.)

 

They clean up as best they can. Abby takes her med kit and moves it to a spare room down the hall, setting up a triage station for the wounded. Murphy tears up a strip of curtain and places it over Ontari’s body before leaving with Emori. Kana and Jaha help walk the wounded to Abby’s station, both of them not saying a word.

 

Bellamy turns back to Clarke, eyeing the blood drying on her face. “Let’s get you cleaned up, yeah?”

 

She gives him a pointed look. “You first.”

 

He rolls his eyes and allows her to lead him from the throne, ignoring Miller’s smirk at their still-joined hands as they pass. They take the room across the hall from Abby’s, finding a basin of water and a few rags.

 

“Sit down,” Clarke tells him. Bellamy shrugs out of his jacket and kicks off his boots, sitting cross-legged on the massive bed in the middle of the room. She does the same before sitting in front of him and dipping a rag into the water.

 

She starts beneath his left eye, gently rubbing away the dirt and grime there. “There you are,” she says softly, more to herself than anything. Bellamy tries to ignore the jolt in his heart at her words.

 

She works in silence for a few minutes, nothing but the sound of their own soft breaths between them until she speaks again.

 

“I expected you to put up a fight about me going in,” Clarke says quietly. “I-I was petrified, Bellamy. I was so scared. If I failed, we all would have died.”

 

“You told me that you trusted me with your life, Clarke,” Bellamy says, “and it goes both ways. I trust you with my life, too.”

 

Clarke’s hand starts to tremble against his face, so he grabs it, taking the rag and keeping her hand firmly gripped in his.

 

“Hey,” he says, dipping the rag in the water and tenderly wiping at the blood beneath her nose. “Do you want to talk about it? About what happened in there?”

 

Clarke bites her lip, unable to meet his eyes. “ALIE told me that we have six months until radiation for the rest of the existing nuclear plants makes Earth uninhabitable. Even for those born in space.”

 

Bellamy lets out a deep breath, closing his eyes. “Figures.”

 

Clarke scoffs, looking up at him sadly. “We can’t catch a break, can we?”

 

“Don’t worry, give Raven a few days and she’ll figure something out.” Bellamy dips the rag into the water again, now murky and brown, and starts to work on the grime on her chin.

 

“She saved me,” Clarke tells him. “In the City of Light. We were trapped, and she hacked ALIE’s code to make a portal so I could escape and find the kill switch.”

 

“Of course she did.” Bellamy’s brows furrow. “We?”

 

“Lexa, she was there. She…” Her eyes start to glisten. “She saved me, too.”

 

Clarke sniffles, squeezing her eyes shut and letting a tear escape. “She said that she would always be with me, and I got to tell her that I loved her. That I _love_ her. Oh, God, I-”

 

“Hey, hey, come here.” Bellamy abandons the rag and pulls her to him. She tucks herself into his chest and he holds her as she shakes, letting her tears stain his shirt.

 

“I just wish we had more time,” she says. Bellamy holds her tighter, rubbing her back soothingly. “I loved her, Bell. I really think I did. But we didn’t even have a chance to be together.”

 

He rests his chin on top of her head. “I know,” he whispers. “It’s not fair.”

 

“I think you would have liked her,” Clarke says softly, pulling back to look up at him. “I know you didn’t agree with her, but-”

 

“She was important to you, Clarke,” he tells her. “I didn’t agree with her on a lot of things, but she was important to you, and I would’ve tried.”

 

She smiles up at him in the way that makes his heart skip a beat, then pulls away, wiping her eyes with a sigh. He opens his mouth to say something, but then his eyes find something over her shoulder and his face lights up.

 

“What?” Clarke asks, craning her head around. “What is it?”

 

Bellamy stands up and crosses the room, grabbing the bottle off the top of the worn wooden dresser. He gives it to her with a proud smile.

“I think we deserve that drink right about now.”

 

Clarke takes it in her hand, studying it for a minute before yanking out the cork and taking a giant swig. She coughs, shocked by the burn in her throat, then hands it back to Bellamy. He downs it smoothly, and she glares.

 

“Show off.”

 

“Just know how to handle my liquor, that’s all.”

 

Clarke scoffs and takes another sip. They pass it back and forth until it’s empty and falls from their tipsy fingers, clattering to the floor. Bellamy tries to reach for it and then collapses onto the bed, giving up. Clarke giggles- _giggles_ \- and lays down next to him.

 

“You’re my best friend, Bellamy,” she tells him after a beat. He sobers immediately, turning to face her with wide eyes. She rolls onto her side so she can look at him face to face. “You’re more than that. That bullshit that ALIE said about you being a knight was wrong, okay? You’re my equal, my partner.”

 

She grabs his hand, clasping it between them, and he squeezes so hard she thinks her knuckles might pop, but she doesn’t care.

 

“I care about you, Bellamy. _So much_. And with you by my side, I know we can fix this. _Together_.”

 

Before he can overthink it, he raises their joined hands and presses a kiss to her knuckles. Clarke’s eyes widen, but he assuages her fears with a soft smile.

 

“Together.”

* * *

 The Rover appears the next morning. Harper and Jasper cut Indra down from the cross while Raven and Monty try to arrange a grappling system to get them all down. It takes a few hours, but they succeed.

 

Octavia runs to Indra as soon as her feet touch the ground, and the woman cups Octavia’s face in her hands for a long moment before nodding and pulling her into a tight embrace. They leave together, almost without a word, but then Octavia turns back.

 

“I’ll be by Arkadia within a week to get my things,” she tells Bellamy. “We can talk then.”

 

It’s not exactly an olive branch, but it’s the closest they’ll get, so he takes it.

 

“Alright, O,” he says. “Be safe.”

 

Octavia looks like she’s trying her hardest not to roll her eyes. She nods once to him, then at Clarke, and then takes her leave.

 

When she’s out of sight, Bellamy lets out a long sigh. Clarke puts a hand between his shoulder blades, steadying him.

 

“You’ll be okay,” she assures him. They head to the Rover, where everyone is already starting to pile in. It’s cramped, but they make it work. Just as they are about to drive off, Clarke spots him.

 

“Wait!”

 

He emerges from the tunnels, haggard and bloody but most definitely alive.

 

Roan.

 

“Would you look at that,” Raven mutters drily. They slow down, and Clarke opens the back door to call out to him.

 

“Come with us,” she tells him. “Let us help you before you return to Azgeda.”

 

“Ontari?” he asks. Clarke shakes her head. Roan remains impassive.

 

“Come on,” Bellamy chimes in. “We owe it to you.”

 

Roan arches an eyebrow. “I let Clarke get captured. I’m surprised you haven’t shot me by now.”

 

“You did what you were supposed to do,” Bellamy says. “You tried to get her out. I’m thankful for that. We all are.”

 

“In or out, your Highness!” Raven yells, glaring at them through the rearview. “We need to leave now if we want to make it back before the solar power runs out.”

 

Roan grunts, hiding a smirk as he climbs in, squeezing onto the bench across from Bellamy in Clarke. He eyes them knowingly.

 

“So, what’s next?” he asks them as they begin their drive back.

 

Bellamy and Clarke share a glance. They haven’t told the others yet. They deserve a shower, a hot meal, a good night’s sleep. The news can wait until the morning.

 

“We’ll figure it out,” Clarke says vaguely.

 

Bellamy nods sagely. “We always do.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> how is everyone? holding it together? let's cry on tumblr over the hiatus  
> (bilexualclarke)


End file.
